Window regulator



Feb. 20, 1962 R. c. RUSSELL 3,022,064

. WINDOW REGULATOR Filed June 18, 1956 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVEN TOR.

ROBERT C. RUSSELL ATTORNEYS Feb. 20, 1962 R. c. RUSSELL 3,022,054

' WINDOW REGULATOR Filed June 18, 1956 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig.2.

INVENTOR.

ROBERT C. RUSSELL WZ: MM 1 ATTORNEYS Feb. 20, 1962 R. c. RUSSELL 3,022,054

wmnow REGULATOR Filed June 18, 1956 4 Sheets-Sheet ,3

INVENTOR. ROBERT C. RUSSELL ATTORNEYS Feb. 20, 1962 R. c. RUSSELL wnmow REGULATOR 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed June 18, 1956 INVENTOR.

ROBERT C. RUSSELL ATTORNEYS United States Patet 3,022,064 WINDQW REGULATOR Robert C. Russell, Shaker Heights, Ohio, assignor to Eaton Manufacturing Company, Cleveland, Ohio, :1 corporation of Ohio Filed June 18, 1956, Ser. No. 591,369 3 Claims. (Cl. 268-424) The device disclosed herein relates to a cable operated window regulating device for automotive use utilizing a simple, quiet, and efiicient cable operated window regulating means which utilizes fewer working parts, is lighter in weight, and much lower in cost than the conventional lever systems which have been in use for many years.

It is an object of this invention to provide a cableoperated Window regulating device which is light in weight and consists of a relatively few number of operating parts.

Another object is to provide a power operated window regulating device in which the electric motor operating means cannot be overloaded and consequently damaged.

Still another object is to provide a Window regulating device which is low in cost and requires a minimum of maintenance.

These and other objects will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the device and from the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 illustrates the power operating window regulating means mounted in a vehicle door.

FIGURE 2 is a front view of the window regulating device.

FIGURE 3 is a view taken on 33 of FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged front view of a portion of the driving means.

FIGURE 5 is a section taken on 55 of FIGURE 4.

FIGURE 6 is an exploded view of the novel slip coupling utilized in the window regulating device.

FIGURE 7 is a side view of the coupling shown partially in section.

FIGURE 8 is a section taken on 88 of FIGURE 7. Briefly, the structure disclosed herein relates to a window regulating device wherein a single mounting channel is mounted in the door frame and has disposed at one end thereof a driving motor, gear reducer, and driving drum which has coiled thereon a portion of the driving cable. At the other end of the mounting channel, the cable passes over a pulley which is rotatably mounted on the mounting channel. interposed between the motor and the gear reducer is a slip coupling means which allows the motor to overrun the driving drum during overload conditions. The cable is suitably attached at one point by a bracket means to the window carrying means so that when the motor is energized, the window is selectively moved from a closed to an open position, or vice versa. 7

Referring to the drawing for a more detailed description of the device, a vehicle door 10 has mounted therein a window regulating means 12 which has a mounting channel 14 provided with suitable spaced attaching means 16 and 18 to provide for the attachment of the mounting channel to the frame panel of the vehicle door. As viewed in FIGURE 2, the lower portion 20 of the mounting channel 14 is flared so that the mounting channel at the lower extremity is progressively wider than at the intermediate and upper portion. A gear box housing 22 is adjustably mounted by bolts 24 and nuts 26 to the channel portion 20 through elongated slots in the channel portion 20 to fix the gear box housing in the selected position.

An electric motor 28 is provided with mounting studs 30 which are adapted to be connected to a flanged mounting portion 32 of the gear box housing 22. Rubber inice serts 33 are provided between the studs 30 and the flanged mounting portion to resiliently mount the motor 23. Nuts 34 are provided to cooperate with studs 38 to suitably attach the motor to the flanged portion of the gear box housing. A motor shaft 36 has mounted thereon an element of a slip coupling means 38 which will be described in detail in another part of this application. A worm shaft 46 is fixed to another element of the coupling 38 and is adapted to function as the input means to the gear reducer contained in the gear box housing 22. The worm shaft 40 has integrally fixed thereto a worm 42 which meshes with a worm gear 44 and the gear 44 has rotatably fixed thereto a drum shaft 46 by means of opposed flat portions 45 provided on the shaft which cooperate with flat portions in the central opening of the worm gear 44. The drum shaft 46 is journaled at one end in a nylon cup 48 which is carried by projecting portion 59 of the gear box housing 22 and is supported at the other end in a nylon bearing 54 which is carried by a projecting portion 55 of a drum housing 52. The drum housing 52 is attached to the gear box housing by means of the bolts 24 and together with the gear box housing provide an enclosure for the gear reduction mechanism. A drum 56 is rotatably fixed to the shaft 46 by means of opposed flat portions 57 on shaft 46 cooperating with flat portions provided in the central opening of the drum 56 so that rotation of the gear 44 imparts rotation to the drum 56. A stop bracket 58 is suitably fixed to the mounting channel 14 to function as a stop means for the window carrying frame when the window is in the lower-most position. Referring to FIGURES 2, 3, and 5, a pulley 60 is rotatably mounted on the upper end of the mounting channel 14 by a shaft means 62 and a pair of openings 64 and 66 are provided in the drum housing 52 so that a cable 68 can be wound around drum 56, passed through the openings 64, 66 and disposed over the pulley 69 which is preferably made of nylon because it has good wear qualities and requires no lubrication. The cable 68 is wound around drum 56 several times in such a manner that one end of the cable is attached in an opening 70 and the other end is attached in an opening 72 in the flanged portion of the'drum 56. I

A cable attaching bracket 74- is fixed to a window carrying means 76 and a plate 78 is attached by xrews 80 to the bracket 74 to clamp the cable to the bracket so that longitudinal movement of the cable effects a similar movement of the bracket 74.

The slip coupling 38 will now be described. Referring to FIGURES 6 to 8, driving shaft 36 has a fiat portion 82 adapted to receive a flat portion 84 of an axially extended hub 86 of a backing plate 88. The hub 86 is provided with external flat portions 90 which cooperate with flats 2 of the pressure plate 94. The driven disc 96 is interposed between the backing plate and pressure plate and is provided with circumferentially spaced, radial projecting portions 98. A compression spring 100 is urged against the pressure plate 94 to frictionally engage the backing plate, friction disc, and pressure plate, and a reaction disc tea. is held in place on shaft 36 by a cotter pin 1G3 and functions as the compression spring reaction member. A torsionally and laterally flexible driven cup 194, preferably made of rubber, is provided with axially extending, circumferentially spaced, projecting portions 106 which cooperate with the projecting portions 98 of driven disc 96 in such a manner that rotation of the driven disc 96 is imparted to the driven cup 104. The cup 104 is provided with an insert 103, preferably of nylon, to drivingly connect the cup 104 to the driven shaft 40. With this arrangement, it is obvious that any misalignment between shafts 36 and 40 is compensated for by the connection between the driven disc 96 and the driven cup sired to open it, a switch meansmounted on the interior trim panel is moved to a window opening position which energizes the electric motor 28, resulting in rotation of the motor shaft 36 and the worm shaft 48 through the coupling 38. Rotation of the worm shaft id and worm 42 efiects rotation of worm gear 4 drum shaft 46, drum 56, and pulley 60 through the inter-connection of the cable means 68. Since the cable 68 is clamped to the a cable attaching bracket 7 by plate means 78, movement of the cable effects movement of the window carrying means. if an obstruction is presented while thewindow is being raised, movement of the cable and consequently,

rotation of the drum 56, shaft 45, worm gear 44, worm 42, and worm shaft 49 is prevented. Since the motor shaft 36 continues rotation, the friction driving mrange:

ment between members 83, 9 4-, and 96 results in a slipping condition until the obstruction is removed. It is to be noted in this structure that due to the irreversibility of the'worm and worm gear arrangement, any force applied directly to the window carrying means cannot be transmitted to the slip coupling 38 in amanner so that the window can be lowered by this direct force application, Lowering and raising of the window can be accomplished only by energization of the motor in the appropriate I direction.

When the window reaches a fully closed position, the manually operated switch means is merely released. Obviously, if desired, a thermal overload circuit breaker can be utilized to deenergize the motor if the coupling is placed under a slipping condition for an undue length of time. When the window is completely lowered, astop bracket 58 prevents any further movement of the window carrying means. 7

This arrangement ofiers several advantages over structures which have been utilized heretofore; First, the mounting channel 14 carries all of the mechanism and the entire structure can. be completely assembled before installation in a vehicle door. Wheuit is desired to install the window regulating device, only two bolts are required to securely fix the structure in position. Also, if desired,

a small bracket can be mounted on the unsupported end.

of the motor to insure an even more rigid positioning of the motor. 'When the device is mounted, the window carrying means is fixed to the cable by merely placing the cable 68 under the plate 78 and securing screws 80. The coupling is of such novel design that it compensates for misalignment between the motor shaft and it also functions as a torque transmitting member at a practically inaudible noise level, even when the coupling is operating under 'a slipping condition. Since the motor is not mounted directly in the door but onthe main mounting channel, the motor noise is insulated in the sense that translatory noises are kept to a minimum. Since drum shaft 46 is mounted in nylon bearings, there is no maintenance and practically-no wear at these bearing points. The structure which is heretofore disclosed provides w an extremely quiet, safe, smooth acting, and eflicient structure which requires a minimum amount of maintetrance, and is low in cost.

While the present invention has been described in connection with certain specific embodiments, it is to be understood that the foregoing description is merely exemplary and that the concept of this invention is susceptible of numerous other modifications, variations, and applications which will'be apparent to persons skilled in the art. The invention is to be limited, therefore, only by the broad scope of the appended claims.

What I claimis:

1. In a window regulating device comprising an elongated channel member having pulley means rotatably mounted thereon, a mounting member means having motor means resiliently supported thereby, drum means rotatably supported by said mounting member, means drivingly connecting said drum means to said motor means, cable means trained between said drum means and said pulley means, means for connecting the cable means to a window carrying means and means for connecting said channel member to a vehicle door, the improvement comprising, in combination with said mounting member, fastening means for adjustably supporting said mounting member on said channel member with the drum means being disposed remote from the pulley means, said fastening means including a plurality of generally longitudinally elongated openings in one of the members, and a corresponding plurality of elongated fasteners for said openings projecting from the other memberthrough the elongated openings.

2. In a window regulating device for a vehicle door window, the combination comprising, a generally upstanding elongated channel member having upper and lower portions and an intermediate portion, spaced attaching means on said intermediate portion for connecting said channel member to a vehicle door, pulley means rotatably mounted on 'saidupper portion of the channel member, power operating means including an electric motor, a rotatable drum and gear mechanism operatively connected between said electric motor and said drum, cover housing means enclosing said drum and said gear mechanism, said cover housing means having a flange portion for supporting said motor to enable said power operating means to be mounted as a unit, said cover housing means having spaced apertures defining cable passageways, cable means wound in tension on said drurn and operatively passing through said cable passageways and over said pulley means, window carrying means operatively disposed for longitudinal movement relative to said channel member, means for attaching said window carrying means to said cable means for movement therewith, said lower -portion of said channel member having a plurality of openings disposed in olfsetspaced relationship relative to each other, and a corresponding plurality of fastening means for said openings extending through said housing means for supporting the housing means on the lower portion of said channel member, said plurality of openings defining elongated slots adjustably receiving said fastening means to enable said power operating mechanism to be secured to said channel member in a selected position and maintain the tension on said cable means fixed in such selected position.

3. The window regulating device as recited in claim 2, wherein said means for attaching said window carrying means to said cable means comprises an apertured bracket disposed below said pulley means and having a dimension transverse to the longitudinal axis of said channel member that is larger than a dimension which transversely spans the cable means, a plate member having a smaller transverse dimension than said bracket for cooperating with only one part of said cable means, and means attaching said plate member to said bracket to clamp the selected one part of said cable means therebetween.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Norwood et al my 8, 1924 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3,022,064 February 2O 1962 Robert C. Russell It is hereby certified that error appears in the above numbered patent requiring correction and that the said Letters Patent should read as corrected below.

Column 4, line 1, strike out "means".

Signed and sealed this 26th day of June 1962.

(SEAL) Attest:

ERNEST w. SWIDER DAVID L- LADD Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents 

